


Our Sweet Boy

by StellarLibraryLady



Series: Norene's Magical, Mystical World [3]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Death, Gen, Tragedies, families
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-10
Updated: 2016-11-10
Packaged: 2018-08-30 05:54:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8521000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StellarLibraryLady/pseuds/StellarLibraryLady
Summary: A terrible tragedy has come into the lives of Norene and her family with the loss of a teenage boy.





	

**Author's Note:**

> For Mac's family, friends, and community.

Not everything that happens to the librarians is funny. A terrible tragedy has come into the life of Norene and her family. A young man who had just turned fourteen was tragically killed while doing something that he loved: riding his four-wheeler in a recently harvested soybean field on the family farm.

This is something that shouldn’t have happened. Mackenzie was doing everything right. He was an expert rider and a veteran of many hours behind the wheel of his ATV. He knew the rules of safety, the lay of the land, and the laws of Mother Nature. He was wearing his trusty helmet, the best on the market. Yet, something went wrong. Something that we may never fully know or understand. Something that will puzzle us forever. Something that will haunt us forever. Could we have done something more for him? Cautioned him more? Restricted him more? Loved him more?

The answer is that there is no answer. No answer that can fully satisfy our doubts, our questions, or our sense of justice. It makes us question our belief in a Higher Being that controls these things and Who is supposed to be watching out for us. If we’re supposed to be under the watchful eye of a loving Heavenly Father, why was Mac snatched from us just when the world was opening up for him? Adulthood was practically in sight. That’s another question that doesn’t get answered. That’s where faith is supposed to step in and give us peace, understanding, and acceptance. We can only pray that miracle will happen for us in the days ahead.

Mac was an ordinary boy with one of those unisex names that is so popular now, names like Kelly, Shelby, Ashley, Jordan, Cameron, Grayson, and Sage. He had loving parents who made sure he went to public school and participated in a wide variety of activities such as 4-H, sports, and community affairs. Most Sundays, the whole family attended a rural church that supported a small, but loyal congregation of interrelated, multi-generational families. 

He was lucky in that both sets of grandparents lived within a few miles of his home in the country. That is so rare nowadays. Many children have long distance grandparents who only get to see each other at holidays and during very intense 24/7 visits. Not so Mac. Also nearby were aunts, uncles, and cousins as well as a multitude of extended family on both sides. He was from an area where families had intermarried for over a hundred years. If someone wasn’t your cousin, he was your second-cousin. Older family members delighted in tracing familial connections. Some people had to go out of the area in order to marry someone who was not somehow related to them by blood. And forget about non-blood ties. It was almost impossible to find someone who was not connected somehow by marriage. But there is a sense of security to that, also. You know that you belong to an area. A lot of people don't have that in today's world.

Yes, Mac was an ordinary boy with an ordinary life, but he was extraordinary, too, with a unique life. Everyone who knew him well had a Mac story. From little on up, he was always the one who did one thing too much, said one thing too much, that got him into trouble, yet made everyone smile.

Norene remembered one time when she had been in the basement of Mac’s grandparents. She had been admiring a well-worn collection of toys that were on display behind a glassed-in cabinet built into the wall. These toys were the few survivors from the childhood of Mac’s grandfather. There were older modeled farm tractors and other pieces of farm equipment to scale so that they could be attached to the tractors and pretend farming could commence. The prospects for play were very tempting.

Mac came up and informed Norene that “You can’t play with those, Norene. They are Grandpa’s from when he was a little boy like me, and they are only for seeing.”

Norene said, “Oh, I don’t want to play with them, Sweetheart. I just want to look at them.” She continued to look at the toys, remembering toys from her own childhood and wondering their fates after all of the moves her family had made.

Mac, however, must have thought she was savoring the thought of playing with those forbidden toys. After a moment of watching Norene, he said, “If you want to play with them, though, I won’t tell.”

How could Norene have kept a straight face?

That was the way Mac was. He had a lot of empathy for the next person. But there was also the hint of the imp that is hidden in the heart and soul of every child who has lusted after a forbidden toy or wants to take that extra chance.

Norene had been with him at most of his birthday parties and at Christmastimes and Easters. So were about fifty other people. That was how people celebrated in the country: with four generation families, with surrounding farm families, and with people trucked in from the surrounding area and towns. So it was only natural that those same people met one final time at the little rural church to see him into Heaven.

After the funeral, conversation naturally revolved around how difficult this was going to be for the family in the future days. As this tragedy occurred in late October, the Holidays were looming in the immediate future, and his family would gather to mark that season without him. But they would not celebrate. Not yet, if ever. When they did, there would always be a note of melancholy sadness in the festivities. 

His classmates would hit a landmark the coming school year as they advanced into high school without him. Then would come the whole array of teenage experiences that he would miss: winning the football homecoming game for the old grads, the deepening of his voice so that he went from a girlish alto to a masculine bass, attending the junior-senior prom with his first serious girl friend, grieving over the breakup of that first romance, and choosing a college that stressed an agricultural program. All landmark steps to adulthood.

Or perhaps Mac would have gone into farming right out of high school, married that first serious girl friend, and raised another farm family. Mac always loved farming, from the time he was barely big enough to ride with Grandpa in the combine during harvest. He argued with his older brother about which was the better color for a tractor: Case IH red (formerly International Harvester) or John Deere green. City folks may not realize it, but the red and green tractor wars are very serious battles in farm country. Norene herself is a red fan. Her father drove ‘Hs’ when he had farmed. Mac liked red, also. Yes! They were allies. But then there was Grandpa who drove those green Johnny Poppers. And Grandpa’s opinions and preferences were very influential with Mac. Grandpa was very important to Mac. And Mac was very important to Grandpa who realized the responsibility he had of handing down values and methods.

Mac patterned himself after the men in his family and the community at large. He had good examples in his dad, his grandfathers, his brother, and his uncles. Each had unique character traits to contribute, and he had chosen wisely. He also was not afraid of his feminine side. Grandma had taught him to sew, and he took very good care of his 4-H sheep. Whenever Norene gave him or his brother a birthday card, she was always impressed in how thoroughly the brothers had read the cards. Both brothers were always ready to hug her 'hello' or 'goodbye,' too. They were both very caring and sensitive to other people. Norene believes that Mac had received a wonderful gift in his life. He knew that we are the sum total of those who love us.

And there would be things his family and friends would miss, too: his brother having Mac as his best man in his future wedding, his parents standing proudly beside the two responsible, accomplished, caring men they had raised, his community depending on his reliability, wisdom, and manpower. All of these things should have come in time. Now they will not.

There are so many things we will miss because of Mac’s passing. But the biggest will be that he just isn’t here with us anymore. And we will always be a little bit lonely because of his absence. We will never realize how much, because the loss is so huge. Mac wasn't perfect, as none of us is. But he was loving and personable and caring. And the sad truth is that we don't get to keep him with us anymore. For that, we grieve. For his brief presence with us, though, we are thankful. For his eternal salvation, and ours, we pray. We will be together again someday. That has been promised us, and we will keep our faith in that promise.

Mac lived life fully while he was here and taught us that we can't have much leeway when it comes to living that life. Meet Life head-on, he'd say, with gusto, with curiosity, and with a smile. He left this world owin' nothing, but we owe him for the memories and the example that he left with us. For these reasons, his was a life well lived. We just wish it hadn't been so short.

On the way home from that sad funeral service, mourners discussed what the days ahead would hold for the family. As someone remarked, “It’s over for us. And it’s just starting for them.” How true.

At the time of the funeral, all Norene could call Mac was ‘our sweet boy,’ for that indeed was who he was to all who knew him.

The person who is lost to us, but who lives with Jesus, now and forever:

Our sweet boy.

**Author's Note:**

> For all of our sweet children who have been lost too soon, including Carra's son just a few short weeks before Mac's passing and Jenny's son many years ago.


End file.
